Products April 26, 2011

Kenexa Introduces Job Description Builder

April 26, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Kenexa has introduced the latest addition to its CompAnalyst compensation software, Job Description Builder.
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A press release said Job Description Builder gives employers a streamlined approach to the creation, storage and maintenance of job descriptions. For companies without existing job descriptions — or for those looking for a point of reference for key roles — the solution also provides high-level descriptions, including functional competencies, for more than 4,000 benchmark jobs.  

“Many organizations do not have a central place to store and manage job descriptions and have poorly defined systems for keeping them updated, which leads to job descriptions that are outdated, inaccurate and inconsistent. These inefficiencies can negatively affect quality of hire, accuracy of compensation benchmarking, and exposure to liability. The CompAnalyst Job Description Builder provides the solution to meet those needs,” stated Zahir Ladhani, Kenexa’s president, Compensation, in the announcement.  

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Hosted by Kenexa, Job Description Builder centralizes job description storage so job descriptions are accessible any time, from anywhere in the world. The newest CompAnalyst module gives customers the flexibility to build customized templates that reflect the unique structure and content of each organization’s job descriptions. The solution also maintains a complete history of changes to each job description and allows for the export of job descriptions to print-ready PDF or Word formats.   

In addition to the functionality provided by Job Description Builder, Kenexa’s CompAnalyst modules provide compensation data, market pricing tools, analytics software and other resources to help companies create successful compensation programs.  

Job Description Builder is available immediately to new and existing Kenexa customers.  

More about Kenexa is at http://www.kenexa.com.
Administration April 26, 2011

Group Says Report on State Retiree Benefit Funding Is “Flawed”

April 26, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) says a new analysis from the Pew Center on the States “is seriously flawed and, as a result, comes to misguided conclusions that dramatically overstate the financial challenges facing state pension plans.”
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In a statement, Hank Kim, Esq., Executive Director & Counsel of the NCPERS, contends the Pew Center relied on out-of-date data and employed faulty assumptions (see Report Indicates $1.26T Funding Gap for State Retiree Obligations). “Were government policymakers to embrace Pew’s thinking, they would undoubtedly formulate equally misguided approaches to dealing with their public pension systems – approaches that might well do irreparable long-term harm to those pension funds and to the millions of public employees who are relying on those funds for their retirement security,” he said.   

According to Kim, NCPERS and other public pension experts offered to review and provide input for this Pew report, largely because of the controversial Pew study from last year (see IMHO: Promises Premises), but the Pew Center declined the offers.  

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“The new Pew report relies on 2009 data – data from a low point in the recent historic market downturn. That data is outdated. Much has changed in the last 18 months – virtually all of it for the better. In addition, the new Pew report continues to link health care costs with public pension costs. Health care and pensions are two entirely different animals. What’s more, the Pew report does not take into account the national health care reform enacted in 2010,” Kim argued.   

He said that new research by NCPERS paints a much different, much more accurate and far more positive picture, showing that the vast majority of public pension systems are healthy, are more than adequately funded and are earning above-average returns on their investments (see Survey Finds Public Pensions Generally Healthy).  

Finally, Kim says: “Another important truth is that public pension plans are already changing to adapt responsibly to current economic realities and to further ensure their long-term sustainability. In 2010, more changes were enacted by state and local governments across the country than in any year in recent history. More modifications are already in the works – to benefits, plan design, operational practices, oversight practices and more. This continuing restructuring should guarantee not only that public pensions remain the most economically efficient means of delivering retirement benefits, but also the least costly, at least to states and localities that have kept up with their required contributions to those plans. Jurisdictions that have shown less funding discipline may face greater challenges.”

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